17 Days of Story : From Start to Finish at the Summer Games Through the Eyes of The Times

DAY 1: JULY 20, 1996 / IT’S THE GREATEST

Six years after Atlanta was awarded the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, there was no question there would be opening ceremonies. There was no question there would be a salute to great Olympians of the past. Everyone expected dancing children. But who knew about the pickup trucks?

As a record 197 nations with almost 11,000 athletes marched into Centennial Olympic Stadium, the big question was: Who would light the flame? The last time the Olympics were held in the United States, decathlon great Rafer Johnson was accorded the honor in Los Angeles.

The drama built as boxer Evander Holyfield, an Atlanta native, brought the torch into the stadium, where he was joined by Greek hurdler Paraskevi Patoulidou, who, four years earlier in Barcelona, had become the first woman from that nation to win a track and field gold medal. They handed it off to swimmer Janet Evans, who was trying to become the most decorated U.S. female Olympian.

But then the crowd roared as Evans gave the torch to a vision in white. Muhammad Ali, shaking from Parkinson’s syndrome, lit a fuse that ignited the caldron and the world.

DAY 2: JULY 21, 1996 / THE LIGHTS GO OUT IN GEORGIA

As the events began, so did the problems. Vehicles broke down, people couldn’t get to their venues, streets were clogged with traffic. And it was almost 100 degrees.

U.S. swimmers, who were not expected to dominate, got off to a slow start as well. Angel Martino finished third in the 100-meter freestyle, then gave her bronze medal to a cancer-stricken fan. The rest of the world was picking it up in the pool. China’s Le Jingyi won the 100 freestyle. Ireland’s Michelle Smith came out of nowhere to win the 400 individual medley and Belgium’s Fred Deburghgraeve set a world record in the 100 breaststroke.

Meanwhile, the U.S. men’s basketball team (referred to by some as the Dream Team) started a trend that would continue throughout the Games. The Americans got off to a slow start against Argentina (the lights even went out for a while), then they pulled away at the finish for a 96-68 victory.

Trivia buffs: The first medal of the Games went to Poland’s Renata Mauer in the women’s air rifle.

DAY 3: JULY 22, 1996 / MAKING WAVES

Actually, it was more of a splash by the U.S. swimmers, as Tom Dolan defeated University of Michigan teammate Eric Namesnik in the 400 individual medley to become the first American to win a gold medal in Atlanta. That was followed by the men’s 800 freestyle relay team cruising to victory. And little Amanda Beard of Irvine, teddy bear and all, won a silver in the 100 breaststroke behind Penny Heyns of South Africa, a 1-2 finish that would be repeated in the 200 breaststroke.

The U.S. women’s gymnastics team got off to a strong start, sitting in second place behind Russia after the compulsories. Someone said, “Wouldn’t it be great if Kerri Strug were to injure her leg tomorrow, then make the courageous final vault as the women won their first team gold medal?” Someone else said, “Yeah, right.”

Meanwhile, the International Olympic Committee was concerned that Atlanta officials and some corporate sponsors could not deliver on promises in areas related to technology. At least we thought they were: The story didn’t come in until very late because of some computer foul-up.

DAY 4: JULY 23, 1996 / A SPLASH . . . AND A CRASH

The good: A 1-2 finish by Beth Botsford and Whitney Hedgepeth in the 100-meter backstroke, an Olympic-record performance by the U.S. women’s 400 freestyle relay team, and an exciting duel in the 100 freestyle between Russia’s Alexander Popov and Gary Hall Jr., won by Popov.

The bad: Janet Evans failed to qualify for the final in the 400 freestyle, in which she holds the world record. She finished ninth in the preliminaries. That led to . . .

The ugly: Evans, who had passed the torch to Ali, who had become America’s sweetheart, always a picture of class, raised the issue of fairness after she failed to quality. Ireland’s Michelle Smith, who would go on to win her second of three gold medals, was a late entrant but was given special dispensation by the IOC. Then came rumors of drug use by Smith, a 26-year-old late bloomer.

Elsewhere, Turkey and Greece got together for a rousing weightlifting duel, with Turkey’s Naim Suleymanoglu, the Pocket Hercules, defeating Valerio Leonidis, the Pocket Zeus, on his last attempt.

U.S. Men’s Basketball Team 87, Angola 54.

DAY 5: JULY 24, 1996 / GOLDEN!

Talk about getting carried away with a gold medal. Kerri Strug, making perhaps the most courageous leap since Evel Knievel tried to carry the Snake River, wrapped up the U.S. team championship. Subsequent scoring nitpickers (John Tesh, please don’t read this) noted that the Americans would have won even without Strug’s last vault, but would Bela Karolyi have picked up the little waif if it hadn’t been important? Strug said she was going to attend UCLA, rather than cash in on her success. Pay attention, there will be a quiz later.

Meanwhile, back in the pool, Americans won three more gold medals: Amy Van Dyken in the 100 butterfly, Jeff Rouse in the 100 backstroke, and the men’s 400 freestyle relay team, with Gary Hall swimming the fastest split ever recorded. Suddenly, everyone was more worried about the Irish than the Chinese.

Of course, all the teenagers weren’t in the pool or in the gym. El Monte’s Kim Rhode (pronounced roadie) hit 19 of her final 20 targets to win the first gold medal in women’s double trap. Unbeatable Russian wrestler Alexander Karelin brought back memories of the Cold War, and NBC brought back memories of Pravda by fudging on whether events were live.

DAY 6: JULY 25, 1996 / THE DAY AFTER

The big story in gymnastics was China’s Li Xiaoshuang winning the men’s all-around competition as Vitaly Scherbo fell to a bronze when. . . . We’re kidding, of course. The big story was Kerri Strug hanging out at Planet Hollywood with Bruce and Demi. Unless it was Kerri Strug taking a phone call from President Clinton.

Swimmer Michelle Smith insisted she was drug-free, which was good, considering she had just won her third gold medal for Ireland, this time in the 200 individual medley. Russia’s Denis Pankratov lowered his world record in the 100 butterfly. The U.S. women won the 400 medley relay, but don’t call this Team Amanda--Beth Botsford, Angel Martino and Amy Van Dyken all swam stronger legs than Beard.

In boxing (yes, there was boxing at these Olympic Games despite what NBC-watchers might believe), Antonio Tarver, considered the best U.S. hope for a gold medal, was booed for lack of activity, but still outpointed his Russian foe. U.S. boxing Coach Al Mitchell referred to light-welterweight David Diaz as “a fighting momma-jomma.” Who are we to argue?

U.S. Men’s Basketball Team 104, Lithuania 82.

DAY 7: JULY 26, 1996 / GOING THE DISTANCE

That’s as in distance swimming, where Brooke Bennett won the 800 meters and Janet Evans ended her career with a sluggish sixth-place finish. Evans then became the Grand Lady of American Swimming, relinquishing her title of America’s Sweetheart to Kerri Strug. Alexander Popov won another stirring race from Gary Hall in the 50. Afterward, they raced to take drug tests and Popov won by .02. The U.S. women won the 800 freestyle relay, and some questioned the use of Shirley Babashoff during the preliminaries.

The American women faltered in the gymnastics all-around, Shannon Miller and Dominique Dawes going out of bounds. Ukraine’s Lilia Podkopayeva won the all-around, but was upstaged when injured Kerri Strug announced that she had not done anything to jeopardize her eligibility at UCLA.

Boxing became controversial again. Welterweight Fernando Vargas of Oxnard cried foul after his loss to Romania’s Marian Simion, when three of five judges scored the bout in Vargas’ favor. Anyone confused will be asked to explain the formula for NFL quarterback ratings.

DAY 8: JULY 27, 1996 / HIGH WATER MARKS

The fun went out of the Games at about 1:25 a.m. when a pipe bomb went off in Olympic Centennial Park. One woman was killed in the blast and another man died from a heart attack.

Before that, the exultation had continued on the last day of swimming and the first day of track and field. Amy Van Dyken won her fourth gold medal, the men’s medley relay team set a world record and the Americans finished with 13 gold and 26 overall medals in the pool, far greater totals than expected. Michelle Smith won only a bronze medal in the 200 butterfly, sending shock waves through the swimming world.

Shotputter Randy Barnes defeated John Godina on his final effort and Jefferson Perez of Ecuador burned up the track in the 20-kilometer walk.

In the strangest event of the day, Fred Merkle met Harvey Haddix as the U.S. women’s softball team lost to Australia. The Americans lost a run when Dani Tyler failed to touch home plate on a home run and Lisa Fernandez lost a perfect game on a home run to the game’s last batter and lost, 2-1 (trust us).

U.S. Men’s Basketball Team 133, China 70.

DAY 9: JULY 28, 1996 / THE SHOW GOES ON

For the most part, the day was filled with reflections on the bombing tragedy. Flags were at half staff and there were memories of Munich. President Clinton said the Games had to go on. Juan Antonio Samaranch, president of the IOC, said the Games had to go on. Andrew Young, former mayor of Atlanta and United Nations ambassador, said the Games had to go on. Athletes said the Games had to go on.

So the Games went on.

There were a couple of stirring races in the 100-meter finals. In the women’s race, Gail Devers repeated her 1992 triumph, even though silver medalist Merlene Ottey refused to believe it. Linford Christie, the men’s 1992 champion, false-started twice and then refused to leave the track. When he finally was escorted out of the way, Canada’s Donovan Bailey set a world record of 9.84 seconds, flashing from behind to defeat Ato Boldon of Trinidad & Tobago & UCLA. The cursee seemed to be on Jackie Joyner-Kersee, who had to withdraw from the heptathlon because of a strained hamstring.

DAY 10: JULY 29, 1996 / JUMP SHOTS

It might have been Carl Lewis’ last long jump in Olympic competition. And it would have been in the preliminaries, not a fitting end for his career. But the greatest long jumper of all time summoned up his best mark in two years, 27 feet 2 1/2 inches, to lead all qualifiers into the final. It wasn’t the only clutch leap of the night: High jumper Charles Austin, facing no better than a silver medal after missing twice at 7-9 1/4, passed to the Olympic-record height of 7-10 and went over on his first attempt. There was a local twist to the hammer throw, with Hungarian gold medalist Balazs Kiss from USC and silver medalist Lance Deal becoming the first American to medal in 40 years.

Gymnastics returned after a brief hiatus with the individual apparatus competition. Kerri Strug couldn’t compete, and Shannon Miller and Dominique Dawes would have been better off if they hadn’t, so it was up to Amy Chow to prevent a U.S. shutout with a silver on the uneven bars.

The U.S. baseball team had its perfect record ruined by Cuba, 10-8, but the American women advanced to the soccer final with a 2-1 victory over Norway on Shannon MacMillan’s overtime goal.

U.S. Men’s Basketball Team 102, Croatia 71.

DAY 11: JULY 30, 1996 / STILL THE KING

These were to be Michael Johnson’s Games. He was favored to become the first man to win the 400 and 200 meters in the same Olympics. He was going to be The Man.

Someone forgot to tell Carl Lewis.

It wasn’t anywhere near his best jump ever. But when he got out there 27 feet 10 3/4 inches on his third attempt, it seemed to freeze the rest of the field. World-record holder Mike Powell was injured and fell flat on his face in the sand on his last try and finished fourth, unable to end the reign of The King.

Not that Johnson didn’t give it his best shot in the 400. His time of 43.49 was an Olympic record, but the most impressive thing was his margin of victory--.92 seconds. Well, it was a nice try, but it wasn’t as if he could do anything spectacular three days later in the 200, an event in which he already held the world record.

Amazingly enough, there was more gymnastics. Shannon Miller, whose Olympics had consisted of nationally televised breakdowns, finally broke through to win gold on the balance beam. Jair Lynch became the first African American man to win an individual medal. The men’s volleyball team was knocked out, as was Monica Seles in tennis.

DAY 12: JULY 31, 1996 / BACK TO THE FUTURE

In what may have been the most dramatic day for competition in Olympic history, the top story (if you were watching on NBC) was the Golden Gala gymnastics competition. Combine that with Kerri Strug’s announcement that she would not be going to UCLA after all, and it was pure gold.

The women’s softball team won the gold medal, defeating China, 3-1, with the difference being a controversial home run by Dr. Dot Richardson.

Times columnist Bill Plaschke took a look at the modern pentathlon, and found it as confusing as the old-fashioned one. Andre Agassi reached the semifinals of the men’s singles, then was disappointed to learn that he and Brooke Shields could not compete in mixed doubles. Mark Henry, the 400-pounder who figures to be a star in the World Wrestling Federation, was unmasked with an eighth-place finish in the weightlifting. The U.S. women’s volleyball team joined the men out of the medal race, and Chinese diver Tan Shuping made everyone whose best dive is a cannonball happy with a pair of belly-flops.

U.S. Men’s Basketball Team 98, Brazil 75.

DAY 13: AUGUST 1, 1996 / YOU CAN’T WIN ‘EM ALL

That was the lesson learned by some of track and field’s top performers, as Gail Devers finished fourth in the 100-meter hurdles, Johnny Gray was seventh in the 800 meters and Sergi Bubka couldn’t even compete in the pole vault because of an injury. But decathlete Dan O’Brien put himself in position to make up for his failure to make the U.S. team in 1992. Michael Johnson said Carl Lewis should run on the 400 relay team.

The mat and the ring produced some big moments for U.S. athletes. Kurt Angle, thinking of murdered friend Dave Schultz, won the gold medal in the 220-pound freestyle wrestling. Kendall Cross also won gold at 125 pounds. And Floyd Mayweather, whose father is imprisoned in Michigan, became the first U.S. boxer to defeat a Cuban at the Olympics since Leon Spinks defeated Sixto Soria in 1976.

Lisa Leslie finished 66 points short of her career-high 101 set at Morningside High, but her 35 against Japan were still a U.S. Olympic record. China’s Fu Mingxia became the first woman in 36 years to win both the platform and springboard, Nigeria shocked Brazil in men’s soccer, and Courtenay Becker-Day won a bronze in the Europe class, keeping alive the Americans’ 60-year medal streak in yachting. U-S-A!

DAY 14: AUGUST 2, 1996 / DOUBLE TIME

It may have been the most amazing 19.32 seconds in the history of the Olympics. Michael Johnson pulled away from the field in the first 100 meters, which he ran in 10.12 seconds, then finished with a second 100 of 9.20 seconds. So Johnson, who had broken the 17-year-old record of Pietro Menne in the Olympic trials by .06 seconds, broke his new record by .34 seconds, a Beamonesque performance.

Left in Johnson’s wake was the decathlon performance of Dan O’Brien, who was only 23 short of Daley Thompson’s Olympic record of 8,847 points. He even cleared a height in the pole vault.

The U.S. women’s soccer team, which had never played before a crowd of more than 8,000 on its native soil, was thrilled to be playing in front of 76,481. And if that wasn’t enough, Tiffeny Milbrett’s goal in the 62nd minute gave the Americans a victory over China and a gold medal.

Japan and Cuba won the right to play for the gold medal in their national pastimes, with semifinal baseball victories over the U.S. and Nicaragua. Gymnastics was named the new American national pastime.

U.S. Men’s Basketball Team 101, Australia 73.

DAY 15: AUGUST 3, 1996 / FIGHTING MAD

Remember the scene in “Casablanca” where Claude Rains was shocked to learn there was gambling going on in Rick’s Cafe? Well, U.S. officials shouldn’t have been shocked to learn that the boxing judges were going to come up with some controversial decisions, but they still protested Floyd Mayweather’s loss to a Bulgarian. Something about the chief of international judges being from Bulgaria. “I stick my neck out for nobody,” Emil Jetchev reportedly said.

Would he run or wouldn’t he? No, they weren’t talking about Colin Powell or Ross Perot--the man in question was Carl Lewis and the deadline was getting closer to naming the 400-meter relay team. Michael Johnson bowed out of the 1,600-meter relay team, proving that no one could run 19.32 in the 200 without hurting himself. Jackie Joyner-Kersee couldn’t run very well, but she still managed to get a bronze medal in the long jump with her last effort.

Wrestler Bruce Baumgartner, who carried the U.S. flag in the opening ceremonies, would carry a bronze medal in closing ceremonies after becoming the sixth American to medal in four Olympics. Lindsay Davenport lost 20 pounds and gained the gold medal in women’s tennis.

DAY 16: AUGUST 4, 1996 / NO LEG TO STAND ON

The United States finished the last big day of track and field by winning three of the four relays. But it was the American team that didn’t win that was the big story--the one that chose to leave off Carl Lewis.

Canada’s Donovan Bailey, the new world-record holder and gold medalist in the 100, brought the baton home ahead of Dennis Mitchell in 37.69 seconds, the best time ever by a non-USA team. Lewis watched the race from a luxury suite and missed out on a chance for his record 10th gold medal, and U.S. track Coach Erv Hunt became the most second-guessed man since Boston Red Sox owner Harry Frazee sold Babe Ruth to the Yankees.

In the women’s 400 relay, Gail Devers wrapped her fingernails in white tape so she wouldn’t slice one of her teammates while passing the baton. In case you wondered.

Andre Agassi played his best match since he faced Pete Sampras in the middle of that street when he rolled over Spain’s Sergi Bruguera for the gold medal.

U.S. Men’s Basketball Team 95, Yugoslavia 69. Vlade Divac fouled out. The Americans won the gold. Everyone was thrilled about it.

DAY 17: AUGUST 5, 1996 / SEE YOU IN SYDNEY

The Games of Atlanta, which began with such joy and were interrupted with a fatal act of violence, finished with fireworks and words of hope from International Olympic Committee President Juan Antonio Samaranch.

David Reid became the only U.S. boxer to win a gold medal with a stunning knockout over Cuba’s Alfredo Duvergel. Josia Thugwane, a janitor who had no chance of competing before the fall of apartheid, became the first black South African to win an Olympic gold medal, and he did it in the marathon.

The Wheaties box winners were Michael Johnson, Dan O’Brien, Amy Van Dyken, Tom Dolan and the entire women’s gymnastics team.

In Sydney in 2000, the Olympics will return to Australia for the first time since 1956 in Melbourne. There are rumors that the parade of nations will not be held. No word on whether Strug-tossing will be added as a demonstration sport.

And frankly, we did give a damn.